Greenville Memorial Hospital (GMH) has been awarded a Certified Zero Harm Award from the South Carolina Hospital Association for its prevention of central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). The award comes after Greenville Memorial Hospital achieved 12 months with no CLABSIs in its cardiovascular intensive care unit and 24 months with no CLABSIs in its neurotrauma intensive care unit.

This most recent award recognizes the clinical outcomes Greenville Memorial achieved as a result of instituting evidence-based CLABSI bundles and improvements to staff hand hygiene performance. Since adopting an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system, Greenville Memorial has seen a significant increase in hand hygiene compliance and a reduction in healthcare-associated infections. The hospital published a study just last year documenting a 25 percent improvement in hand hygiene compliance and a 42 percent reduction in hospital-onset MRSA infections after use of the DebMed Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring System [i]. The system measures hand hygiene compliance following WHO 5 Moments guidelines, which emphasize hand hygiene at five key indications during patient care.

“Our CLABSI reduction efforts recognize the importance of moment 2 from the World Health Organization’s ‘My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene,’” said Sue Boeker, Infection Prevention Manager, Greenville Memorial Hospital. “Moment 2 (before performing an aseptic task) is important in CLABSI prevention as you want to minimize any potential contamination of the external central line before you touch it.”

Among other protocols, proper hand hygiene is recognized as the simplest and one of the most important ways to prevent contamination of the central line and prevent bloodstream infections[ii].

“We’re proud to partner with Greenville and recognize the significant success they’ve achieved by using our clinically proven system,” said Ron Chappuis, Vice President of Marketing, DebMed. “Our system offers simple, easy-to-read reports that provide meaningful, accurate data a hospital team can use to track and improve hand hygiene performance. This award is a testament to how hand hygiene performance measurement is a powerful tool hospitals can use to create a positive patient safety culture.”

To learn more about the Certified Zero Harm Award, visit www.scha.org/members/initiative/zero-harm-awards.

For more information about DebMed’s hand hygiene solutions for hospital facilities, visit www.debmed.com.